The growth of the Internet has created a new way to buy, sell, trade, and barter goods and services worldwide. This new form of buying, selling, trading, and bartering may commonly be referred to as electronic commerce or e-commerce and or electronic business or e-business. The process of conducting these types of transactions can be called an electronic commerce transaction, electronic business transaction, e-commerce transaction, or e-business.
In addition, as more individuals and businesses gain access to the Internet the way in which business is conducted may also change. This new form of conducting business on the Internet can be referred to as electronic business, or e-business.
As more individuals and businesses gain access to and or develop a presence on the Internet more goods and services can be made available and offered to buy, sell, trade, and or barter. Resultant from rapid growth trends in Internet usage, e-commerce transaction and e-business transaction trends may also be increasing.
As individuals become more reliant on the Internet for e-mail, e-commerce and e-business the demands for access to the Internet may increase. In addition, to the buying, selling, trading, and bartering supported on the Internet other services vital to daily business may also be performed online.
For example and not limitation, Internet banking, stock and security trading, and e-mail and e-business communication may also be a growing functional need of the Internet. Unfortunately, only individuals with access to computers that have Internet connectivity can use these services. In large part, this may limit the access to Internet services since many potential users might only have access to an Internet capable computer at home or at a place of employment. Even if a computer with Internet access is available, the opportunity to surf through tens of thousands of Internet web sites may require more time than is available or may be an inappropriate use of time (as may be common in the work place environment).
Additionally, a computer with Internet access may be too foreboding in time and or skill required from a potential user in finding the appropriate web site, identifying the goods or services desired, and ultimately conducting an e-mail, e-commerce, or e-business transaction. Furthermore, the potential lack of security of sensitive credit card and transaction information, and other sensitive data may be a real threat in discouraging potential users from performing e-commerce transactions. Thus, a potential customer may become scared, and or frustrated choosing not to partake in e-mail, e-commerce, or e-business transactions all together.
There are numerous problems for Internet based businesses (referred to as virtual companies or virtual businesses), in that increased competition on the Internet may see their growth diminish. The barrier to entry of a virtual company can be little more than a computer hooked to the Internet. As more web sites appear selling similar products, a virtual company's ability to differentiate itself from other virtual companies may diminish. Head-to-head competition may shrink profit margins; potentially jeopardizing an entire business enterprise. In addition, web based business may struggle to uniquely identify themselves—after all, most, if not, all virtual companies exist on web pages, and web pages only.
In addition to virtual companies having to compete with other virtually companies, virtual companies have to compete with brick and mortar type companies. Brick and mortar type companies may also be referred to as physical companies. Physical companies are companies with physical locations that the public can access.
Physical companies may have several advantages over virtual companies. For example and not limitation, in many cases physical companies can see their competition coming after them by monitoring and counting the competitions physical locations. Furthermore, it is much easier for a company with physical locations to expand by developing an Internet business, than it is for a virtual company to expand by buying or building physical locations.
A number of deficiencies support the long felt need of the present invention including the demands for access to Internet services to timely conduct business and personal related transactions, as well as a wide variety of e-mail, e-commerce, and e-business type transactions can result in user dissatisfaction, late or incorrect information, lost opportunities, and or lost sales to name a few.
Deficiencies and shortcomings resulting from limited access to computers that have Internet access or connectivity may restrict access to virtual companies. In addition, the lack of Internet access available to everyone prevents a large contingent of potential customers from conducting e-mail, e-commerce, and e-business transactions with virtual companies.
Deficiencies and shortcomings of virtual companies include a lack of ways to differentiate themselves among competing rival virtual companies as well as brick and mortar type physical companies. In addition, the inability of the virtual companies to generate physical point of presence in the public may make virtual companies susceptible to competition from physical companies that decide to diversify by developing a competing virtual business.